The LANE/LAIN(E)s of Ulster, Ireland, Chapter 2
The "LANE Family" section of this site is divided into 8 chapters and 8 appendices. Please read in sequence by following the links at the bottom of each page or use the "Quick Nav" at top right. Please note the companion photo galleries which show the LANE family house ruins in Co. Tyrone, Ireland; the LANEs' Parish church in Lissan; the homes and graves of the LANEs in Jarrow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Note the style: link to an individual photogallery image: …#5 . If you wish to select individual chapters, please click on the top left link to the Sitemap page.
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LANE/LAIN(E) Farms, Co. Tyrone
- Inside this chapter: |
- Family Farms |
- Griffiths Records |
- LANE Births in Parish Lissan |
- LANE Locations |
- Griffiths Records Revisited |
- Further Details of the Three Farms |
- Family? |
- Some Conclusions & Possibilities |
Family Farms
In what sort of an area did the LANE's live? The photo below shows the essence of the area, just north of Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, North Ireland. Facing northwards near the LANEs' homes, the background is low mountain .... the Slieve Gallion, which is an outlier of the Sperrin Mountains. In the mid-distance towards the left is the Lissan Parish Church. The small stream in the foreground of the photo feeds into the Ballinderry river.
View looking north, away from the LANE farm Photo: Bill Cardwell 2002
The photographer, my kind Irish friend, Bill Cardwell, has interests in both photographing Co. Tyrone and in researching its history. He has enabled the most significant break-throughs in my Co. Tyrone research by both directly accessing PRONI records in Belfast, and by visiting and photographing the LANE farm areas in Co. Tyrone …#3 to …#8.
Please see the Lissan Parish Church Photo Gallery for photos of the Lissan Parish church in Churchtown, Co. Londonderry and the Slieve Gallion, both mentioned above. I am indebted to Keith Ison, who diverted from his tour of Ireland to Churchtown for these photos taken in May 2006. These photos capture the feeling of the place where the LANEs were baptised. Their same baptismal font survives today, with the dedication date of 1685 …#31 to …#37.
I have just expanded the range of photos as well as their size to create a new photogallery… the Lissan Excursions Photogallery. Laurence Campbell read the material on my website and volunteered to take further photos, which are now on this new gallery. Laurence's systematic and beautiful work …#16 to …#29 also included photos on the Staples Lissan House.
Griffiths Records
Initial examination of PRONI Griffith's Valuation records (1848-1864) held in Belfast, showed that a James LANE leased his house and land from Sir T. Staples. The area of James LANE's lease was 4 acres 3 roods 25 perches - land value £2-0-0 house value £0-5s-0, portion 7 in the townland of Unagh. Portion 7 was located on a Griffiths Valuation map for the Cookstown area (ref# VAL/2A/6/29D). This map rose from an 1833 survey with revisions in 1857. The family farm was near the intersection of the Unagh, Lissan and Tatnagilta townlands. This information was then placed on section of a modern Ordnance Survey (OSNI) map with the kind permission of OSNI.
Modern map from the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, Cookstown area. Acknowledgement: The kind permission of OSNI.
Please note the location of the James LANE's farm in Unagh {F}, the Staples' home, Lissan House {L}, the Unagh National School {U} and the position of the photo at the beginning of this page {P}. It also gives townland and county boundaries and the position of Birch Hill {B} in Tatnagilta which was mentioned in LANE baptisms below.
The Parish of Lissan Church of Ireland baptismal records for LANE are now tabulated. This parish includes the Unagh, Lissan and Tatnagilta townlands:
| # | Parents | Occupation | Range of dates | Birch Hill | Unagh | Tatnagilta | No Location | Total births |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last Updated on 1/10/2003 By PD STRONG | ||||||||
| 1 | William & Sarah | - | 1806 - 1830 | 2 | - | - | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | James & Jane | - | 1812 - 1820 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 3 | *James & Mary | - | 1839 - 1842 | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | *James & Margaret | farmer | 1851 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 5 | William & Eliza | farmer | 1839 - 1856 | 1 | - | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | William & Sophia | coachman | 1877 - 1879 | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Totals: 12 or 10 (* same people?) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 24 | |||
LANE Locations
We now have three NAMES of locations where 34 or 36 individual LANEs were found .... the Griffiths Valuation farm in Unagh, Birch Hill in Tatnagilta, and an unspecified Tatnagilta location. Local information, as well as our 1935 map, pinpointed a Birch Hill in Tatnagilta which was less than 0.5 kms from the Griffiths Valuation farm in Unagh. I thought it strange that there were no other LANEs mentioned in the Griffiths valuations when there so many LANE baptisms in Tatnagilta. Accordingly, I looked for LANE variants of spelling in the Griffiths Index and found:
- LINN, Francis of Tatnagilta
- LINN, William of Tatnagilta
It does seem obvious in retrospect that LANE would sound like LINN to the English tax-gatherers! Had not heard of Francis before, but William of Tatnagilta was probably the Birch Hill LANE.
However, all may not be what it seems.The Lissan Roman Catholic parish registers record a marriage between a Francis LINN with a residence of Birchhill on 2 Sep 1857 to Margret HAGERTY. Similarly from these registers a Gulielmum (William) Linn was born to Gulielmo (William) and Eleonora LINN and baptised on 26 Jul 1829, with a residence of Ballymulligan (about 8km E from Tatnagilta, just past Moneymore). Did this mean that the LANEs and the LINNs were unrelated since they may have had different religions? Did the fact that James LANE baptised his children in the established Church of Ireland mean he was Protestant, or was he just flexible?
Griffiths Records Revisited
We found that Francis LINN had 6 acres at number 4 in Tatnagilta and William LINN had 4 acres at number 6A. However, I could not find 6A on the Griffiths map, though there was a Portion 6 at Birch Hill. I measured areas 4 and 6 on the map and they were 6 and 4 acres respectively. The assumption was made that Portion 6 was equivalent to 6A .... right place, right area. The farms were colour coded on the 1935 map which shows the boundaries of the various portions as well as naming the location "Birch Hill" and showing the James LANE's house in Portion 7 in Unagh. Please see the next chapter 3 for all the relevant maps and Griffiths information.
Family?
Which LANEs from the cluster of LANE parish records described in the above table were my immediate family? Regrettably James & Jane (births 1812 - 1820) did not have a record of a child James b. c1818, otherwise we could have suggested that James & Jane were my g-g-g-grandparents, though of course it is possible. We made a break-through with the children of James & Mary (births 1839- 1842), finding probable records for both my g-grandmother Jane as well as her sister Sarah Anne. Also, an equivalence of James and Margaret (birth 1851) with James & Mary would give us the other sibling, William.
- PRONI: MIC/583/1-2 back cover Sarah Anne LANE .. see exact transcription beneath: " Sarah Anne daughter of James LANE and Mary his wife was born 9th of September and Christened 11 December 1842 By me William J Irvine"
- PRONI: MIC/1/103 ; 3rd section. p.93 Jane LAINE.. see copy of register and exact transcription beneath:
1839 Baptismal Register, Parish of Lissan"(The Year 1839) Page 93 Jane daughter of James Laine and Mary his wife was Born 1st October and Chriftened 3 November Regiftered Same day by me W.J. Irvine" Similarly we made another breakthrough with the child of James and Margaret LANE. PRONI: MIC/1/103; 3rd section, p. 21: William, son of James and Margaret, Unagh, b. 24 Apr 1851, farmer. This is the right time frame, and it should be noted that Mary could be using her alternate name of Margaret which she used later in life at Newcastle upon Tyne. As mentioned before, the location of Unagh is most important since it links with the location of the Griffiths Valuation James LANE.
Note that the registers of St Luran's, Derryloran Parish Church in Cookstown showed that Rev. W.J. Irvine mentioned above, was Curate of Lissan Parish when his own children were baptised in 1833, 1836. 1839 and 1840. The Rev. John Molesworth Staples (see photogallery …#28 and …#29) was the Rector of Lissan Parish for 44 years (1814 - 1858?) and may have married our James and Mary / Margaret MOORE.
Some Conclusions & Possibilities
The LANE farm at Unagh was probably where my g-grandmother Jane LAINE was born. Jane LAINE would certainly describe herself as coming from Cookstown if she was born at Unagh, and the date of the baptismal record matched (as do the dates for her siblings). Furthermore, James LANE of the Griffith's records could well have been Jane's father James LAIN b. c1818, since James' son William was probably born in Unagh in 1851, within the Griffith Index period (1848- 1864). Note the anomaly that James' son Joseph was born in Belfast ~1848. However, there is the other possibility that Jane's grandfather might have been the Griffiths Valuation James LANE and feasibly the same person mentioned in the 1827 Tithe Applotments for Unagh. The cluster of 34 or 36 individual LANEs found in the locations Unagh/ Birch Hill in Tatnagilta/ west of Birch Hill in Tatnagilta may have been part of my extended family.